THE BEGINNING OF THINGS. 



the cutting off of the escaping reduced particles. And 

 a further reduction will be occasioned by the cooling 

 of the crust, causing the gaseous center to settle toward 

 the crust, through the laws of matter congealing in 

 conformity with different temperatures. 



The continued exposure of the outer crust of the 

 planet to the extreme cold, owing to the gaseous center 

 being large in proportion to the amount of solid matter 

 forming the crust, and in consequence the sun driving 

 the whole body to the outer border of the gases border- 

 ing extreme cold, would in that case occasion the cool- 

 ing of the crust greatly during each semi-revolution of 

 the body. Cooling of the crust greatly would occasion 

 the congealing of the gases from the center or nucleus 

 of gases toward the cold portion of the crust during 

 each revolution. The continued congealing of the gases 

 toward the crust as the body hastened to cool would 

 cause the nearest thing we have in nature to a genuine 

 void or vacuum within the center of the globe or 

 planet. The crust having reduced the greater part of 

 the gases to a solid consistency before the crust thick- 

 ened to any great extent, and in consequence the heat 

 generated in after years when the crust began to thicken 

 through the accumulation of great bodies of matter on 

 the outside by precipitation from the gaseous form in 

 conformity with their respective temperatures of con- 

 densation, would not produce heat sufficient to reduce 

 the gases which had solidified within the center to the 

 gaseous form again. In consequence the body would 



17 



